FESTIVAL by KC from Casey

[Demonland 64,640]

The Queens Birthday weekend festivities kicked off early this year with a Friday night development league curtain raiser at Casey Fields that was won comfortably by the Scorpions over the Zebras thanks to a dominant second quarter.

The Saturday game against Collingwood VFL brought with it a large crowd to Cranbourne which, to their credit, is what you expect when the Magpies are playing. The result was another win to the Scorpions - this time by the narrow margin of four points after four quarters of pulsating football in a game affected by the strong winds that prevail in the area.

The Pies had first use of those winds and were off to a flyer. They booted the first four goals of the game and appeared to be on their way to icing the game up very early in proceedings until a late counterattack from Casey produced a goal at the 27 minute mark to the hard working Ed Morris and the Scorps were down by 20 points at first change.

It was the Pies who opened the scoring against the breeze in the second term but Jordan Moncrieff replied with his first soon after and Casey was on its way. With Mark Jamar and Jake Spencer dominating the ruck hit outs and Alex Neal-Bullen, Dom Tyson, Viv Michie and Morris winning the ball at ground level pumping it inside fifty, the goals eventually came and the home side fought hard for a two point lead at half time.

Collingwood came out strongly with the wind behind its back in the third quarter but poor kicking for goal was its nemesis. That and the fact that the Scorpions were able to turn the tide with the final two goals of the term - the last one again to Morris with a goal from just inside fifty after the siren to make the difference 11 points. Dean Terlich was playing a great game in defence not only stopping his opponent but also winning his own ball.

With a three goal breeze behind their backs, the Casey boys were in the box seat but it took ten minutes and goals from Jamar and Nathan Page to give them the lead. The Pies were not to be denied and a dour struggle ensued and now it was the Scorps' turn to kick points. Rohan Bail kicked his second but the Collingwood spirit was not to be denied. They goaled against the breeze to make it a four point game but the siren denied their efforts to make it five wins on end.

The stars of the game were Morris and Neal-Bullen. Tyson wrote his name into the Demons' team next week and there were several bright spots not only for Melbourne but also for the Casey listed team which is building up nicely and will no doubt be looking forward to next Saturday's must win match against Coburg which had its measure last year.

Tomorrow, it's up to Melbourne to make the Queens Birthday weekend a truly festive one for the fans.

2015 Peter Jackson VFL

Casey Scorpions 1.2.8 5.8.38 7.8.50 10.12.72

Collingwood VFL 4.4.28 5.6.36 8.13.61 9.14.68

Goals

Casey Scorpions Bail Morris 2 Byrnes Jamar Michie Moncrieff Muir Page

Collingwood VFL

Blair Gault 2 Cox Goodyear Gray Monkhorst Still

Best

Casey Scorpions Neal-Bullen Tyson Morris Michie Stretch Jamar

Collingwood VFL Williams Karnezis Wallace Reid Marsh Dwyer

Rohan Bail 2 goals 2 behinds 19 disposals 11 kicks 8 handballs 5 marks 75 dream team points

James Harmes 20 disposals 10 kicks 10 handballs 9 marks 5 tackles 84 dream team points

Mark Jamar 1 goal 1 behind 20 disposals 14 kicks 6 handballs 7 marks 1 tackles 20 hit outs 101 dream team points

Oscar McDonald 18 disposals 6 kicks 12 handballs 4 marks 1 tackle 58 dream team points

Jordie McKenzie 22 disposals 5 kicks 17 handballs 5 marks 4 tackles 77 dream team points

Viv Michie 1 goal 28 disposals 12 kicks 16 handballs 6 marks 3 tackles 103 dream team points

Alex Neal-Bullen 1 behind 34 disposals 21 kicks 13 handballs 4 marks 5 tackles 123 dream team points

Jake Spencer 1 behind 10 disposals 4 kicks 6 handballs 3 marks 4 tackles 26 hit outs dream 76 team points

Billy Stretch 1 behind 21 disposals 9 kicks 12 handballs 5 marks 4 tackles 81 dream team points

Dean Terlich 29 disposals 16 kicks 13 handballs 6 marks 5 tackles 109 dream team points

Dom Tyson 33 disposals 12 kicks 21 handballs 3 marks 4 tackles 1 hit out 101 dream team points

Mitch White 15 disposals 9 kicks 6 handballs 4 marks 1 tackle 52 dream team points

The Development League side wrapped up their game with a dominant five goal quarter but managed only two goals in the second half of an otherwise low scoring game to win by 22 points. Nathan Paredes and Angus Scott were Casey's best but Max King was not far away with his three vital goals. He got plenty of the football and took some strong marks including one great speccy that warned the crowd up on a cold night.

2015 AFL Victoria Development League

Casey Scorpions 2.3.15 7.6.48 7.10.52 9.11.65

Sandringham 1.3.9 2.4.16 4.7.31 5.13.43

Goals

Casey Scorpions King 3 Fisscher Lang 2 Anderson Paredes

Sandringham Bazzani Davis Haidon Roos Zijai

Best

Casey Scorpions Pattison Fritsch Anderson Fisscher Scott Lang

Sandringham Zijai Noone Verma Plostins Bazzani Persson